Biodiesel critics and advocates both noted that there was no proposal in the president's budget to extend the biodiesel blenders' credit. This has sparked a discussion in Washington about where the issue stands in Congress.It is an annual process in Washington to consider a package of tax extenders for expiring tax provisions, but Congress is in no hurry this year for the exercise. It let the tax provisions, a myriad of them, lapse at the end of 2013 and hasn't taken up any legislation to reinstate them. One particular tax provision is of interest to the ag sector, the biodiesel tax credit. The biodiesel blenders' tax credit was initiated in 2005, and it has expired and been reinstated three times since then. It was restored in early 2013 a...
Key Takeaways: Drought remains a major threat to global agricultural production, particularly in regions with limited rainfall and growing water scarcity. Commercially available drought-tolerant traits in corn, soybeans, and wheat have generally delivered modest yield improvements, limiting th...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.